Press Release

During its first official meeting in New York on Jan. 9, the Major League Baseball Players Association and Major League Baseball's newly-created International Talent Committee agreed to broaden its resources by identifying and seeking partnerships with a wide variety of outside sources with direct knowledge of international baseball operations and cultures.

Established pursuant to the Basic Agreement between the Office of the Commissioner and the MLBPA, the International Talent Committee is responsible for examining a number of areas related to the procuring of international players including but not limited to the exploration of the possibility of an international draft, improving the education and acculturation programs of Clubs at their international academies and the development of appropriate country-by-country plans for playing and development opportunities for players prior to draft eligibility.

The Committee is led by co-chairs Rob Manfred, MLB's executive vice president for labor relations and human resources, and Michael Weiner, the executive director of the MLBPA. They are joined by New York Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson; MLBPA Director of Player Relations Tony Clark; Tampa Bay Rays Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman; MLBPA Special Assistant Stan Javier; MLB Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations Kim Ng; and MLBPA Senior Advisor Rick Shapiro.